29 thoughts on “Russians. Stop Having So Much Fun”

Jeff, While I’d like to agree, he really does have a legitimate point, esp. in the post-Christian, secular, materialistic, consumeristic, scientific, developed West. Christians are suppposed to live out their faith, not just be nominal. Spending more time reading scripture, praying, and attending liturgical services is always good for individuals and their religious communities. And spending less time engaged in what the modern culture wants you to do with your time (e.g., shopping, drinking too much, eating too much, movies, etc.) is also always good.

But of course you are right, reminding Christians to act like Christians seems so un-Christian and anti-cultural today to so many and thus that kind of message has to be tweaked and nuanced in a way that makes it inoffensive and meaningless? 😉

Now if only he’d stop spending so much time and effort helping Putin and the Russian state?

RIW, I don’t have a copy of every statement or sermon by the Patriarch. But might also be interesting to see how the prelates in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Spain preach about abortion, euthansia, birth control, cohabitation, divorce, and remarriage. The behavior of RCs in those countries either isn’t being impacted by any such preaching or there is little or no preaching in these areas?

Certainly from what I read in the papers on a regular basis about financial, sexual, and other scandals…all is not well in the Vatican, Did see they recently updated their criminal code.

Dale, Small Ireland and very tiny Malta. But not France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain? (Thinking Ireland has something going on regarding abortion laws, either in parliament or some constitutional modification. Though even here the trend is toward liberalization.)

Dale, I do periodically look over YLE, Finland’s public broadcasting entity and read The Economist weekly and WSJ Mon-Sat, but none of them extensively cover Orthodox affairs. I’d be surprised if you’re able to keep up with various episcopal statements, by either patriarchs, individual bishops, or synods in places like Cyprus, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, etc. But if you’ve got anything recent from them on the issue of abortion, I’m all ears. I would suspect most such jurisdictions would refer anyone interested to both current and past statements.

So, what you really mean is “no even small Orthodox countries no bishops have protested abortion.”

So, even Catholic “Small Ireland and very tiny Malta” are doing a better job of this than the Orthodox…you have not yet posted where your ecumenical Patriarch has rejected his former support for abortion rights and removed the titles of archon given to abortionist Greek-American politicians.

Dale, I apologize for long being remiss in not refuting your erroneous statements about Orthodox patriarchs. So I took the time to Google “orthodox patriarch abortion”. Immediately this popped up. From May 2013. Enjoy! I’m sure I’ll find more when I go back. 😉

Dale, Here is something interesting from Jan 2011. Rome and its bishops around the world have counseled politicians to take various pragmatic pro-life steps like this, esp. when the political climate will not support a ban:

Dale, One last one. Here is information from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese (USA) on Controversial Issues. See the section “Questions on Sexual Issues”, #2, where it states, “The Orthodox Church brands abortion as murder”.

Strange, only a single Greek bishop in America even bothered to sign the Manhattan Agreement, and all of this is interesting, but what has any of it to do with your Ecumenical Patriarch? Where are words, directly from him, recanting his previous support for abortion; and most of this is typical Byzantine window dressing; much like all the fast rules in the Greek Archdiocese, which no one follows. Once again, why do Greece and Russia have the highest abortion rates in Europe? Perhaps because they are too busy following all the ins and outs of byzantine fasting laws?

Dale, You should look up populations. Republics of Georgia and Ireland each have about 4.6 million people. (Northern Ireland–UK has about 1.8m). Belarus has about 9.5m and Serbia about 7.2m (excluding Kosovo). So I gave you really recent info from 3 Orthodox nations covering about 20 million people.

RIW, Our “magisterium” has done pretty well since the 7th and last Ecumenical Council. Which is why we still use the original, invariata, Creed. No filioque for us! 😉

As for your “magisterium”, I hope the gay mafia in the Vatican doesn’t take them over. Rome has often been very good at the “do what I say, not what I do” way of thinking. Kind of like about five centuries of non-celibate priests and bishops from the 11th thru 16th centuries! There are “rules” and then there are “rules” and some rules are more equal than others and some just don’t apply or get applied and some plain just get changed or wiped out? Bit like comparing your fasting rules in say 1940s to today? Or rules on cremation? Altar girls (the old minor orders)? Or the theology that used to undergird Limbo in the pre-Vatican II catechisms?

As for fasting, really? I can only suspect that you do not know many Greek-Americans, fasting is as lost an art on them as it is on Irish-Catholic Americans. Byzantium is good in preserving the letter of the law, but only on paper, not so much in practice. Why then does Russia and Greece have some of the highest abortion rates in Europe?

Dale, Of course–“from the 8th century to the 11th the Byzantine magisterium was not overly concerned about the use of the filioque in the west”–because Rome didn’t officially accept it until the early 11th century! And we were fighting for our lives against the Muslim armies. Forget what Western council dogmatized on it. Was that in 13th century? Until it was officially adopted, it was only unofficially practiced.

The issue with fasting is in regard to how it is viewed (legallistically or therapeutically) and changes. Rome just up and suddenly completely changed their rules. Difference of night and day comparing say just 1970 to 1950. Same for cremation. Or shortly thereafter altar girls. With Rome one is always one pope away from either getting what you want or getting what you don’t want. Can be done either by raw papal fiat or creative reinterpretation of tradition. So when priestesses are allowed by Rome…

Dale, I don’t know what that has to do with the filioque and Eastern vs Western Christendom. We do have to credit Islamic military forces with their two-pronged strategy of penetrating Europe. One from Balkans, other from Iberian Peninsula. But after Charles Martel defeated them early on in Gaul, they tended to consolidate in Spain and advance thru Balkans. Sadly, even as late as the 17th century, various Christian rulers would sometimes assist them in their struggles against Greeks, Slavs, Hungarians, and Poles. I always love to remind Lutherans and RCs that it was Cardinal Richelieu and France that paid to have Sweden fight so long and so well in the 30 Years War. Richelieu snatched RC victory from jaws of defeat and saved Luther’s Church!

RIW, And I’d love to see what the 1710s and 1910s “magisteriums” would say to today’s “magisterium” regarding “annulments”! Yesterday’s “magisteriums”…don’t really matter. It’s just all about whose in charge today? Who knows, maybe we’ll live long enough to see RC women priestesses? If not us, then maybe our great-granchildren? Only time and future “magisteriums” will tell! 😉

RIW, I go by Michael. Each bishop, including the Bishop of Rome, answers to the Church, the entire people of God while here on earth, and to the one Triune God in eternity. Unfortunately, dry and hotter than Hades here in Midwest, so bit hard to chill. Though I try to relax. Which you don’t make easier when you almost always start by throwing out abortion, etc…